{"id":20512,"date":"2019-01-07T14:29:08","date_gmt":"2019-01-07T19:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/live-immigrationreform.pantheonsite.io\/?p=20512"},"modified":"2019-01-07T14:29:08","modified_gmt":"2019-01-07T19:29:08","slug":"rising-remittances-as-a-down-payment-on-the-wall-immigrationreform-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2019\/01\/07\/rising-remittances-as-a-down-payment-on-the-wall-immigrationreform-com\/","title":{"rendered":"Rising Remittances As A Down Payment On The Wall?"},"content":{"rendered":"
While President Donald Trump and Congress haggle over funding for a border wall, billions more in U.S. dollars are flowing out of the country for Mexico and other points south.<\/p>\n
Legal and illegal migrants sent $53.4 billion in remittances<\/a> back to Mexico and Central America in 2018. That\u2019s $53.4 billion \u2013 with a \u201cB\u201d \u2013 and more than double the projected cost of building a border barrier.<\/p>\n Remittances to Mexico alone reached $33.7 billion in\u00a02018, up 21 percent from roughly $27.8 billion in\u00a02016, the World Bank<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n Remittances to Central America are spiking with a growing inflow of asylum seekers benefiting from U.S. catch-and-release laws. Wire transfers to Central America hit $19.7 billion last year, up from $15.8 billion in\u00a02016.\u00a0The southbound windfall includes payments to human-trafficking cartels.<\/p>\n With an\u00a0estimated 83 percent\u00a0<\/a>of Mexicans who enter the U.S. illegally sending money home, a surcharge on remittances is one sure way for President Trump to make good on his promise to make Mexico pay for the wall.<\/p>\n